This article places A Love Supreme by John Coltrane in historic context with the emergence of The Beatles. In no uncertain terms, the debut of the Beatles in 1964 was a game changing atomic bomb on the world cultural scene. I, on the contrary, would like to place A Love Supreme in context with major occurrences in the African American Human Rights Struggle. 1. On August 28, 1963: In Washington, D.C., The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom attracted approx. 250,000 to the Nations Capitol. Martin Luther King, Jr.s keynote address the I Have A Dream speech was head by Malcolm X who was observing from the wings that day. 2. On September 15, 1963: In Birmingham, Alabama the 19th Street Baptist Church was bombed at 10:22 A.M. destroying the 3-story structure that had been used as a prime rallying location during recent non-violent civil disobedience demonstrations. Four young girls (14, 14, 14 & 11) were murdered while in the church basement. 20 others were injured by the terrorist act. 3. On November 22, 1963: In Dallas, Texas, President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Seen as a champion for Civil Rights, while that designation more fit his brother and Attorney Gen. Robert F. Kennedy, African American were bereft with grief and foreboding. 4. On January 30, 1964: In Hollywood, California, Sam Cooke recorded his masterpiece A Change Is Gonna Come. Sam Cooke heard the great Bob Dylans seminal song Blowin In The Wind and was amazed that a White boy should be able to record the definitive song on the struggle of his Black folks. Sam set off to, and did write, an answer song and called it A Change Is Gonna Come. 5. February 25, 1964: In Miami, Florida, Cassius Clay defeated Sonny Liston. Among Clays guests in Miami were Malcolm X and Sam Cooke. Clay called Sam Cooke into the ring with him during post fight interviews. [Cooke was reported to have met with Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X - separately - to offer financial assistance for their freedom fighting efforts] Following this fight Clay announces to the world his new name and religious affiliation; Muhammad Ali. 6. December 9, 1964: In New Jersey, The John Coltrane Quartet recorded A Love Supreme. [The album is a four-part suite, broken up into tracks: Acknowledgement (which contains the mantra that gave the suite its name), Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm. It is intended to be a spiritual album, broadly representative of a personal struggle for purity, and expresses the artists deep gratitude as he admits to his talent and instrument as being owned not by him but by a spiritual higher power.] - wikipedia 7. December 11, 1964: Sam Cooke was murdered in Los Angeles California amid suspicious circumstances. Having successfully transitioned from the worlds most popular Black Gospel singer into the inventor of modern soul music, Cooke was also a fast rising businessman. He was shot to death by a Black female desk clerk at a cheap motel. 8. December 21, 1964: Detroit, My Girl by the Temptations released by Motown Records, Gordy label. 9. A Change Is Gonna Come was released posthumously 11 days following the suspicious murder of Sam Cooke, December 22, 1964. 10. February 15, 1965: Nat King Cole died in Los Angeles from lung cancer. The iconic entertainer whos career spanned jazz, popular singing, television and movies succumbed to the disease following years of chain smoking. Cole was a active figure in the struggle. He was the first Black man to host his own television show, The Nat King Cole Show on NBC. The 15 minute show hosted the cream of the jazz world, along with Hollywood stars. Southern affiliates were up in arms due to the shows featuring a Black man with white guests. It was cancelled after the inaugural 1954 season. Cole was buried on 2/18/1965. 11. February 19, 1965: In New York City, Malcolm X was assassinated during a speech given a Harlems Audubon Ballroom. With his wife and young daughters seated before him in the audience, Malcolm X was shot to death before an audience of approx. 200. Exiled from the Nation Of Islam in December of 1963 for comments made following the death of J.F.K., Malcolm traveled to Africa twice, embraced mainstream Islam, while promoting coalitions with Civil Rights organizations. 12. A Love Supreme was released in February (date not available) 1965. Two of the most revered and enduring recordings in American History came out of the same societal circumstances in early 1965. A Change Is Gonna Come was used by Chicagoan Barak Obama as a campaign song during his successful bid to become President of the United States of American. A Love Supreme, in my humble opinion, has yet to distinguish itself as it surely shall at some future time as a herald for all peoples to recognize the common Creator of All... Mighty God. -oa-
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:59:26 +0000
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